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Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Sept. 8

This week could be the perfect time to plant for fall, winter

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED SEP 7, 2024

Violas can be transplanted now for color in the flower bed and in containers. Try putting a few at the base of roses, and watch them grow up into the canes. Kathy Morrison

Do you have any summer veggies left? This last heat spike finished off a lot of crops, thanks to at least three consecutive triple-digit days. But relief from the heat looks like it’s on the way.

(Anything that survived may make it for several weeks more.)

According to the National Weather Service, afternoon high temperatures will return to the low 90s or even 80s by Tuesday, Sept. 9. The rest of the week looks comfortably normal with Sacramento highs hovering around 90 degrees and overnight lows about 60; that’s typical for these last weeks of summer.

It’s also ideal weather for planting cool-season vegetables, flowers and seeds. It’s a good time to transplant perennials and shrubs, too. In fact, the rest of the month kicks off fall planting season.

September typically is on the milder side, averaging highs of 87 degrees in Sacramento. That makes it excellent for planting – whether it’s veggie seeds or whole trees. Warm soil makes for rapid root development.

Just make sure to keep seeds and transplants comfortably moist. Don’t let them dry out.

* Harvest tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons and eggplant.

* Compost annuals and vegetable crops that have finished producing.

* Cultivate and add compost to the soil to replenish its nutrients for fall and winter vegetables and flowers.

* Fertilize deciduous fruit trees.

* Plant onions, lettuce, peas, radishes, turnips, beets, carrots, bok choy, spinach and potatoes directly into the vegetable beds.

* Transplant cabbage, broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower as well as lettuce seedlings.

* Sow seeds of California poppies, clarkia and African daisies.

* Transplant cool-weather annuals such as pansies, violas, fairy primroses, calendulas, stocks and snapdragons.

* Divide and replant bulbs, rhizomes and perennials.

* Dig up and divide daylilies as they complete their bloom cycle.

* Divide and transplant peonies that have become overcrowded. Replant with “eyes” about an inch below the soil surface.

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Keywords:

garden chores checklist September summer weather heat fall planting seeds Sacramento gardening annuals flowers perennials trees fertilizer peonies fruit trees vegetables cool-season vegetables

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Garden checklist for week of May 10

Take it easy during that high heat – then get to work! Your garden is calling.

* Remember to irrigate your tender transplants. Seedlings need consistent moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants. Water early in the morning for best results.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)

* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Put your veggie garden on a regular diet. Set up a monthly feeding program, and keep track on your calendar. Make sure to water your garden before applying any fertilizer to prevent “burning” your plants.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.

* Don’t forget to weed! Those invaders are growing fast.

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